It is natural for a communist government to cover up downturns in the state of affairs in their domain. Often, they achieve this by injecting propaganda through state-controlled media outlets.

However, in a rare display of empathy, President Putin went on national TV to apologize for how inflation has torn Russia’s economy into shambles. Putin was quite specific when he mentioned eggs as one of the worst-hit food products.

President Putin said in his statement concerning the issue, “I apologize for this, but this is a failure of the government’s work.” This statement came as a surprise to international observers of Putin’s leadership.

During a recent year-end media confab with Russians, Putin spotlighted the 40% increase in egg prices. Putin quickly pointed out the inflation as a lapse on the government’s part.

A pensioner, Irina Akopova, who was present at the president’s press conference, raised concerns about the rising price of food products. Russians observed that the increasing cost of essential goods became a thing after Putin gave the green light for the invasion of Ukraine.

There was an immediate backlash from NATO and other Western world powers, so much so that trade sanctions made some consumer items unavailable in Russia.

According to Rosstat, a Russian statistical agency, eggs saw a 13% price increase in October 2023 and another 15% the following month. Before the Ukranian war, a dozen of eggs went for 100 rubles (approximately $1.4). However, that same quantity of eggs now goes for 130 rubles (around $1.8).

Despite the national hardship that the Ukrainian war has caused Russia, it doesn’t seem like Putin will be pulling out of Ukraine anytime soon. This is probably why he is apologizing to Russians on national TV, to urge them on in their perseverance.

Only a few years back, Russia was a major exporter of eggs. In 2022, Russian eggs accounted for 15% of global exports. This figure is unsurprising, as the country exported 1.2 billion eggs that year alone.

However, the ongoing war has made it difficult for poultry farmers in Russia to meet up to regulatory standards of egg quality. Without attaining this standard, Russian eggs will not be accepted for export.

Russian poultry farmers cite a lack of access to certain technologies and major farm input markets as the culprits of their woes. However, the Russian government is very much aware that the lack of access is due to trade sanctions by the US and other allies of Ukraine.

Russian farmers’ access to these amenities is non-negotiable if they are to produce poultry eggs that are good enough for export and even local consumption.

Quality has been the major challenge of eggs in Russia. Naturally, farmers do not want to flood the local market with eggs of poor quality, so production has dropped significantly.

Likewise, the farmers are resorting to buying cheaper feed from abroad to keep their birds going until things improve. They are also improving the protein source of their egg-laying birds by substituting local but low-quality materials for imported variants.

Despite all the farmers’ efforts to keep the wheel of Russian egg production moving, the cost of production keeps rising. So, only poultry farmers willing to run at a loss still produce eggs on a large scale.

Interestingly, the international sanctions also prevent the farmers from accessing medication and veterinary consultation for drug prescriptions and similar services.

Overall, President Putin admitted that local demand for eggs is rising while production continues to plunge. However, he is confident that the intervention of the Russian government will soon alleviate the situation.

For example, he promised that his government would majorly cut the duties on eggs imported to Russia in 2024. Also, despite the inflation rates looking pretty bad on the charts, Putin is confident that the economy will rebound pretty soon.